“We’ve been losing revenue for a while,” Keeley said Wednesday. Keeley, a native of Springfield, worked as a chef at local restaurants before opening his own business in 2007.

Keeley said $18,000 in sales May 1 through 11 this year compared with $33,000 for the same period of 2013 and $45,000 in 2012. He said competition also was a factor.

The restaurant had 20 employees.

“We weren’t the new kid on the block anymore,” Keeley said. “There are only so many slices of the pie to go around. We lost some of our audience, our costs were going up, and we fell behind.”

Keeley leased the building, which was the longtime home of the New England Lobster House. Nantucket Grill operated in the space for about a year prior to the opening of Ross Isaac.

New England Lobster House operated at the location from 1980 to 2004, according to archives at The State Journal-Register.

The restaurant business at 1710 S. MacArthur dates to at least 1942-43 and the Para Dice Sandwich Shop, according to the Springfield City Directory. The directory listed “Good Eats” as the restaurant slogan.

The restaurant also operated as Fritz’s Para Dice and Para Dice prior to the 1980 opening of New England Lobster House.

“Hopefully, someone else will move in there,” said Melanie Raleigh, co-owner of another longtime boulevard business, Luer’s Family Shoes at 1520 S. MacArthur. “All of the businesses along MacArthur would like to see new development.”

Raleigh said she believes the opening Tuesday of the Hy-Vee supermarket at 2115 S. MacArthur should help attract new businesses.

Keeley said the opening of Hy-Vee, which includes the full-service Market Grille restaurant, was not a factor in closing Ross Isaac. He said he was counting on the supermarket, restaurant and convenience store to build traffic along the boulevard.

“It’s been the slowest economic turnaround I can remember,” said Keeley, 46. “When gas prices go up, you also lose business for a while.”

The Ross Isaac name is a combination of family and friends’ names, according to Keeley.

Once he resolves his financial situation, he said, he would consider a return to the local restaurant business, preferably at a downtown location.

MacArthur Boulevard Association president Jen Dillman said she was disappointed to hear of Ross Isaac’s closing but that it was not entirely a surprise.

“I can walk there for dinner. They were very active members,” Dillman said. “We knew this was a possibility.”